Blue Devils Bounce BC

The Duke Blue Devils improved to 19-1 on the season, 6-1 in the ACC, after taking care of business against Boston College Thursday night.

Sure Duke struggled to score early, sure they seem to lack understanding of the back-door pass in the first half and sure they defended Corey Raji like he was invisible, but overall, this was one of Duke’s best post-Irving efforts.

EVERYONE SCORES
Well not everyone, but a lot of folks did. First, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler continued to do what they’ve been doing for a year and a half now. Against BC, they both shook off slow starts to finish strong. Singler finished with 14 and 6 (rebounds) for the game.

Nolan was practically unstoppable in the second half, showing off all his driving skills. He produced two wicked crossovers that broke the ankles of the BC defender. He finished with 28, doing most of his damage inside, as he hit only one three all game long.

On top of that, Ryan Kelly continued to look like a legit third scoring option. He hit his first five, which brought his shooting streak up to 18 in a row, dating back to the Virginia game. However, I tend to focus on what a player does when things aren’t going right.

I was impressed when Kelly missed his first shot (I’m not counting that missed tip-in). He didn’t suddenly panic and throw up a quick shot to get back on track. Instead, he worked hard on defense, helped down low on the boards and didn’t take another shot for eight minutes. Sure he missed that one too, but it was a good, open shot that he simply didn’t have his feet set on. He would hit his next one less than two minutes later.

The best apart about his game is the confidence his teammates are starting to have in his shot. Early in the second half, Singler drove to the basket and kicked it out to Kelly. He had an open look, but for whatever reason he passed on it and drove towards the basket. He gave the ball back to Singler on the baseline, who hit the open shot. Afterward, you can see Kyle tell Ryan, “Shoot the ball.”

TASTE LIKE CURRY
Now that’s the Seth Curry we all thought we were going to get this year. Back in the starting lineup, Seth didn’t let this opportunity slip away this time.  He scored 20, hitting some long range shots from downtown Durham. He had a swagger about him, something we haven’t seen too much so far this season. Of course shooting 6-9 from the field would make most humble men feel a bit cocky. Now let’s just see him do this on the road and I’ll be really impressed.

Overall, Seth ran the point for a few minutes. He wasn’t too bad, but he wasn’t asked to do too much either. The thing about basketball is, it’s suppose to feel natural…almost like second nature. When Kyrie Irving or Nolan Smith have the ball, it’s like they know what they’re going to do with it before they do it. For Smith, that’s the experience kicking in. For Irving, that’s just God-given ability.

Last year I talked about this a lot with Mason Plumlee. Because he missed that time with the wrist energy, he always seem to pause to think when the ball ended up in his hands. This year, that’s not the case when he’s playing defense, rebounding, helping out or dishing out a pass. However, he does still struggle with the “thinking” when his back is to the basket.

For Curry, you can see he’s thinking when he’s running the point. There’s that inexperienced “pause” in his game. He’ll get better at this over time. Will it just click this year, I doubt it, but as long as he can let Nolan be a shooting guard for small stretches, then we are golden.

SCORELESS BENCH
Strangely, while the starters really scored together as a team (four players score 14 or more, plus Mason’s eight), the benched scored zero points. Granted we’re only playing about eight deep (Hairston only played three minutes),  but no points? Ironically, Hairston took two shots, while Miles and Dawkins each took one.

COREY RAJI, WTF?
What the hell happened there? For whatever reason Duke just couldn’t find him on the floor. Whether he was nailing an open three (when did he learn how to do that?) or sliding backdoor after a high screen, he was unstoppable for a long time. Of course Duke did hold Reggie Jackson to 3-11 shooting (seven points), so there’s that.

PULLED OUT TOO SOON
That’s what she said…anyhow, I didn’t love Coach K slamming on the breaks with a 20-point lead with eight minutes to play. I think when you’re rolling (Duke had scored on seven straight possessions before Mason missed two free throws), you keep pouring it on. A 20-point lead is nothing in this league. Get it up to 25-27 points, then you’re talking. After Duke slowed it down, BC went on a mini 12-5 run. Then the game just evened out from there on it. If I’m running the show, I don’t slow it down until five minutes are left.

REBOUNDING MACHINE
Not a lot of opportunities to rebound tonight because both teams shot the ball well, but Mason still managed to snag 12 boards. He’s had double-digit rebounds in five straight games. The great Brian Zoubek never did that. Speaking of Mason, I got two things to say.

First, how about that sweet outlet pass out to Nolan? Back in the Kyrie Irving days, Mason excelled at the rebound quick outlet pass to Irving. It was like he always knew where Irving was. That’s really been missing since Irving went down. When a big man can find a PG 15-20 feet away and hit them, that’s one way you can be a fast-break team even without the lightening quick Irving. It only happened once tonight, but let’s hope it’s the re-start of something again.

Secondly, Mason needs to hit the gym and not leave every night until he hits those free throws. Sorry buddy, but at this level there is no excuse. He’s a liability at the end of the game and teams are just going hack him instead of letting him have easy baskets.